captioning made possible by johnson & johnson, where quality products for the american family have been a tradition for generations >> osgood: good morning. i'm charles osgood and this is sunday morning. by some estimates more than 30 million americans are on the road this labor day holiday weekend, and more and more of us are traveling by bus. buses have become one of the most popular and most inexpensive ways to get from city to city. which makes bus safety a real concern. peter greenberg will be reporting our sunday morning cover story.

>> reporter: with gas and air fares sky high, millions are opting for the budget-friendly bus. it's perfectly safe... most of the time. >> motor coach travel is among the safest form form transportan in the u.s. >> reporter: but it could be safer. >> every day we're working to make it safer. every day. >> reporter: fasten your seat belts, if you can find them. a few words about bus safety later on sunday morning. >> osgood: then we move on to the black keys, whose music you may know best from any number of commercials. anthony mason this morning tracks their path from obscurity in ohio to center stage this the world of rock music. >> reporter: the black keys sold out madison square garden in 15 minutes. not bad for a couple of college dropouts from akron, ohio. did you figure coming out of akron you were a long shot. >> we felt like underdogs. reporter: even three grammies haven't changed them.

>> everybody makes fun of us. reporter: but they just may be the hottest rock band in the country. the black keys later on sunday morning. >> osgood: you say you've always wanted to be in the movies. there's a place to go for that. it's call central casting, really. lee kon will be taking us there. >> reporter: of all the story book places in hollywood, few are quite as storied and yet quite as generic as central casting. >> it's the one place where who you are matters not at all. it's what you look like. >> it's what you look like. reporter: it's as superficial as it comes. >> and extreme stereotypes. reporter: the hollywood background you're not supposed to notice later on sunday morning. >> osgood: it's glass that plays a starring role in serena altschul's story this morning. glass in a class of its own.

>> reporter: it makes the craft of glass making an art. a fine art. >> this is putting that glass in the hands of the artist. that happens here. >> reporter: here is toledo, ohio, where 50 years ago the studio glass movement fired up a whole generation of artists. later on sunday morning, the art of making glass. >> osgood: rit a braver visits a frequent player on the world stage, former senator george mitchell. barry pederson has sent us a postcard from guam. david edelstein has movie picks for this labor day weekend and more. but first the headlines for this sunday morning, the second of september, 2012. hundreds of thousands remain without power in louisiana. in the after math of hurricane isaac. thousands still can't return to their homes because of flooding. insurance claims from the hurricane could top a billion dollars.

the silver lining is that the storm has brought some relief from drought in sections of the mississippi and ohio river valleys. after campaigning in ohio and florida yesterday, mitt romney is taking a break for the rest of the weekend. his campaign says he'll begin preparing for the upcoming presidential debates. president obama is on a three-day campaign tour of swing states starting in iowa. it will end on tuesday when the president arrives at the democratic convention in charlotte. the pentagon says the u.s. military has stopped training afghanistan's militias. that move follows recent attacks against coalition troops by afghan soldiers. they say training will resume once a new system of vetting recruits is in place. ♪ what the world needs now is love, sweet love ♪ >> osgood: you most likely know this song sung by deon warwick. the man who wrote the words has died. he and bert back rack who wrote

the tunes for many of the songs collaborated on dozens of hits. david's wife said even at the age of 91 david always had a song in his head. we'll have more on his songs later on sunday morning. the author of the 1970s best seller jonathan living seagull is in serious condition in a seattle hospital. the small plane richard back was flying clipped some power lines and crashed. penn state went up against ohio university in its home opener yesterday. the nittany lions lost 24-14. playing their first opener without joe paterno since 1949. in a nod to the scandal that system jerry sandusky to prison, the game included a moment of reflection for victims of sexual abuse. paterno's widow and their daughter were among the 90,000 fans in the stands. now today's weather. cooler in the northeast. but summer is still going strong else with with plenty of rainstorm and triple digit heat to go with it. as for tomorrow, what remains of

hurricane isaac will continue to drench the ohio valley this labor day and beyond. up to seven inches of rain could fall before it's over. ahead,. >> start over here on the right-hand side. >> osgood: we're off to a casting call. up next, america's

warwick. >> osgood: we americans love planes, trains and automobiles. but recently we've been flirting more with buses and w good reason. buses are comfortable, convenient and cheap. but with buses in the fast line, bus safety is getting more attention and with good reason. our sunday morning cover story is reported by peter greenberg. ♪ we like to ride in a greyhound bus ♪ ♪ we're seeing all the scenery in comfort plus ♪ >> reporter: if you had a tv in the past 50 years, then you probably remember these commercials. ♪ no need to worry about driving when... ♪ >> reporter: or at least a very familiar slogan. ♪ go greyhound and leave the driving to us ♪ >> reporter: those ads are long gone. but now buses are back. at a time when gas prices are soaring, train service is limited, and flying has become

an expensive tour, the bus business is booming. after falling off for most of the last five decades, bus travel has gained ground since 2006 with more than 700 million passenger trips last year alone. the biggest jump is in what are called curb side bus operators like bolt bus and mega bus. they load passengers on city streets as well as terminals and take them between big cities, often for next to nothing. how much did you spend? >> $15. reporter: to go where? from new york to boston. i think my ticket i bought it a couple days in advance. it was like $9.50. >> $1.50. you paid $1.50 to get here from new york. >> yeah. reporter: for many it's just too good a deal to pass up. in 2011, a year that saw air travel up about 2 percentage points and train travel up 5,

curb side bus trips shot up more than 30%. clearly, the bus game has changed. >> this is a story of america. and some of the people along the way. >> reporter: in the 1956 film "freedom highway," produced by greyhound, no less... >> i hear it's quite a country. t is. reporter: ... the bus lookedded more like a country club lounge, only somehow nicer. >> the men who drive for greyhound are proud they've made it the safest transportation in the land. >> reporter: it was safe but now with more bus trips than ever, safety officials have their hands full keeping it that way. in march last year, more than a dozen died in a crash on i-95 near new york city when a drowsy driver lost control and hit a sign post cutting the bus nearly in half. just days later, another bus crash on the new jersey turnpike left two dead. two months later, a crash in

virginia killed four people when their speeding bus rolled on to its roof. for federal regulators, scenes of horror like these were a wake-up call. transportation secretary ray lahood. >> these really pointed out to us that we needed to focus like a laser beam on these bus companies to make sure the buses are safe, mechanical lea okay, the bus drivers are well rested and properly licensed. >> reporter: in may, the d.o.t. shut down 26 bus companies for everything from bad drivers to bald tires. and the hunt for rule breakers is ongoing. >> where are you coming from? reporter: last month the federal motor carrier administration allowed our cameras along while they carried out random inspections at boston's south station bus terminal. this bus was starting to load passengers when d.o.t. inspector patty lavoie stepped in. >> patty lavoie, we're going to do an inspection on your bus.

get back up on the bus, please. >> reporter: they looked at the engine, checked treads and tire pressure and to see if the windows would actually open in an emergency. so you were off duty at noontime. they also go through the driver's logbook to make sure he's not driving longer than the legal limit. they found nothing wrong with this carrier. but in general, safety officials say driver logs are a trouble spot. ann farrah runs the company. >> we believe they provide too many opportunities for falsification. it's a paper book. >> reporter: what's to prevent a driver from carrying two sets of book. >> the solution is an electronic log much like an lech throne i can time sheet. it ties into the engine of the bus that identifies whenever that bus is moving, whenever it's being operated by that driver beyond their limit. >> reporter: she said electronic driver logs could be on buses as early as next year.

there are other ways to make bus travel safer. at penn state's larsen institute, researchers, working with both private and federal agencies, put just about every kind of bus sold in the u.s. through a brutal battery of tests. from big motor coaches to those little airport shuttles, and where else would you see this? a new york city bus rolling past a dairy farm on a bone-jarring streets of manhattan. >> the point is that not all buses hold up that well. we've had buses that leave the program on a truck because they've fallen apart. >> reporter: they do make 'em and you do break 'em. >> we do break 'em sometimes, yeah. >> reporter: down the road buses could get sturdier. under new federal law, bus companies will look at ways to make roofs less likely crush, windows less likely to shatter.

some new buses like this greyhound model already come with seat belts, but there's no new rule for belts in buses already on the road. pennsylvania congressman bill schuster helped draft the new law. >> in doing our research for this, back in 19... it was like 1964 or '68, the national transportation safety board made an urgent recommendation to put seat belts in buses. here we are over 40 years later and no seat belts. >> what we've seen in a very safe bus industry, motor coach industry today, they are moving towards with their new buses getting seat belts on but to retrofit them costs them thousands of dollars and the cost-benefit is just not there. it's a huge cost. i used to have the number off the top of my head. it's several thousand dollars for each us. you have small business owners that run a very safe business, 99% of them. we're diagnose to have the federal government come in and mandate something that is probably not going to save any

more lives. >> reporter: it's one thing to install the seat belts, right? his company has been in business for more than 100 years with a solid safety record. what he hasn't seen is a demand for seat belts. >> we look to see if people are wearing them. they're not. >> reporter: you can't enforce that? >> you can't. reporter: the bottom line is you can retrofit the bus. you bring the horse to the water. you can't make it drink. >> you can't make it drink. reporter: seat belts or not, there's no sign of slowdown in the bus industry. or with the people whose job it is to keep up with it. >> every life counts. we have to continue to work to make sure that every company operating a bus, moving passengers, puts safety as their top priority. that's our focus. for m >> osgood: coming up, a visit to

middle earth. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and for some people, it can work in as early as the first week of treatment. so now i can plan my days and accomplish more. lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior, or any swelling or affected breathing or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. with less pain, i'm feeling better now that i've found lyrica. ask your doctor if lyrica is right for your fibromyalgia pain.

ask your doctor if lyrica is right >> osgood: and now a page from our sunday morning almanac. september 2, 1973, 39 years ago today. a day of mourning in the imaginary world of middle earth. for that was the day that john

ronald rul tolkein died. in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbitt and so began a fantasy novel about a small creature with furry toes who embarks on dazzling adventures in the company of dwarfs, wizards and elves. he was a professor at oxford when he wrote the book which is said to be based on a story he told his children. first published in 1937 it became an instant classic. the lord of the ridges followed the sequel that would take more than a decade to complete and would become one of the best-selling book of all time. in 2011, the lord of the rings, directed by peter jackson, came to life on the big screen. >> is it safe? never put it on for the agents of the dark lord will be drawn to its power. >> osgood: it was followed by two other films.

all box office hits. earning nearly $3 billion worldwide. the movies received a combined total of 30 oscar nominations and 17 wins including one for best picture. a new trilogy of hobbitt movies is set to hit theaters starting in december. toll keen is still a part of pop culture, spoofed in shows like the big bang theory. and just last month, the late british author was honored with his very own crater on the planet mercury. a place very far indeed from his mythical world of middle earth.

up next, reflections on studio glass. this country was built by working people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ did you know when heartburn, it's too late to take prilosec because... but it's but zantac® works differently.

it relieves heartburn in as little as 30 minutes. in fact, so, when heartburn strikes, try zantac® this has been medifacts for zantac® exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

they claim to be complete. only centrum goes beyond. providing more than just the essential nutrients, so i'm at my best. centrum. always your most complete. >> osgood: there was a time when toledo, ohio, was considered the glass capital of the world. not so much these days but when it comes to artistic glass, toledo is still in a class by itself.

serena altschul now with a touch of glass. >> very hot. yeah, that furnish ace is probably about 2100 degrees fahrenheit. >> reporter: it may not look like it, but what you're seeing is a celebration. a celebration of the liberation of glass. >> this is putting that glass this the hands of the artist. that happened here. >> reporter: what happened right here at the toledo museum of art 50 years ago was one of those moments in history when imaginative people intersect with technology to create something new. in this case, freeing artists to make glass in their own studios. in 1962, ceramics instructor harvey littleton created a workshop in a garage at this museum to explore the possibilities of newly developed

small furnish aces. >> the real innovation was, of course, any artist could use this in their garage. they could make a furnace and make a little workshop for glass and learn the techniques. >> reporter: jeff mack knows how difficult and dangerous it is to work with glass. >> when you approach the furnace and the molten glass, you have to approach it with humility. >> reporter: beautiful glass has been around for thousands of years from ancient egypt and rome to tiffany's in 19th century america. but making it is so difficult that before 1962, artists had to hand over their designs to industrial furnaces to be completed. all that changed with harvey

littleton's modest workshop which gave rise to what came to be known as the studio glass movement. >> thed idea behind it, to have an artist with a vision create works in glass by himself in a studio setting was absolutely revolutionary. >> reporter: the curator of the toledo museum of art's show called color ignited in honor of the 1962 workshop. of course, back then things didn't seem so promising. >> it was fly by the pants. they had to figure out what tools to use, what materials to use, how to work with them. >> reporter: at first, the achievements were small. these glass blogs may not look like much. >> normally something like that would go right back into the furnas. we're very lucky that we have them because they document to us how far the has come.

>> reporter: littleton's experiments were looking like a failure until toledo glass scientist dominic labino came to the rescue. >> he really brought the technological knowledge to the success of the early workshop. >> reporter: he was an engineer with over 60 patents to his name who helped develop fiberglass insulation for the nasa space program. but he also wanted to be an artist. so he joined forces with littleton and showed him how to build a usable furnace and supplied him with glass beads that could be melted more easily. >> it was dominic labino's input that allowed the design to be changed and made into something workable. >> reporter: ultimately, labino came to be an artist himself. wow! creating such works as this wall of color.

>> each one of these is very hard. lots of levels of experimentation. behind the individual patterns that are reflected in this. >> reporter: he would eventually create these beautiful designs too. hare veal littleton was also mastering glass techniques evolving from simple experiments to intricate creations. >> he also goes back again to transparent glass and the optical qualities of color. >> reporter: while traditionally glass makers jealously guarded their secrets, littleton and labino wanted to share their hard-won expertise with university students. >> harvey littleton knew from the very beginning that a movement really could not take hold unless you have people propagating it. you need to have artists taking it to the next generation and the next generation after that.

>> reporter: and so the studio glass movement caught on. these are some of the stunning results. there's the work of littleton's student. and yet another generation is represented by this piece. it's by the show's youngest artist. what started in an ohio garage back in 1962 has truly blossomed into creations of startling beauty. the studio glass movement freed artists from around the world to express themselves fully in the difficult but brilliant medium of glass.

>> osgood: coming up the black keys. for the record. >> what's the plan? find him and kill him. >> osgood: and movies for a holiday weekend.

>> it's sunday morning on cbs. and here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: even if you don't know the black keys, you may find their tune familiar as the sound track for any number of commercials. they have now grown into one of the hottest bands around. they have even playeded new york's central park. anthony mason now with black keys for the record. >> mason: they're anything but an overnight sensation. it took ten years for success to slowly boil for the black keys. but suddenly they just may be the hottest rock band in the country. ♪ i wanted love ♪ i needed love ♪ most of all, most of all >> reporter: after their latest album el camino debuted at

number two on the charts, they sold out madison square garden in just 15 minutes. ♪ if you haven't heard of the black keys, you've almost certainly heard their music. it's been used in more than 300 commercials, tv shows, and films. the black keys are dan auerbach on guitar and patrick carney in those buddy holly glasses. two otherwise quiet guys who just like to make a mountain of noise. >> we don't have a real act. our fans know that we're normal people. >> reporter: you don't have a

schtick. >> it hurt us i think early on because i think people like schtick. >> reporter: did you contemplate coming up with a schtick? >> no, we're not that smart. reporter: growing up in akron, ohio, auerbach and carney connected in high school. a grade apart they weren't really friends at first. but they loved the same music like isaac haik. >> it sounds like this. it's everything we've ever tried to do right there. >> reporter: so they just started playing together in carney's basement. did you figure coming out of akron you were a long shot. >> we found like underdogs and it motivated us to work harder. we always sort of felt like the outsiders which is fine with us. >> reporter: slowly over the past decade, the band built a following the old-fashioned way. by touring the country in a minivan. carney still remembers their

first big payday at a seattle club. >> we made $539. 150 people showed up. it was enough money to pay for gas for the whole trip. >> did you just say $539. i remember it. reporter: you remember it exactly. >> it came in an envelope. we got paid in cash and he slept in the van to guard the cash. >> the night of the seattle show, yeah. >> it was the most money we had ever seen in our lives. >> reporter: soon after in 2003, the keys were offered $200,000 british pounds by an english company to use their music. but worried about selling out, they turned it down. >> you turned down 200,000 pounds. >> it was about $320,000 at the time. we could have paid our rent for 20 years each. >> reporter: how did you feel about turning that down? >> it was really not the right decision. >> i think our parents thought we were absolutely crazy. >> reporter: when the next offer

came, they took the money. >> we braced ourselves. get called out or make fun of. >> reporter: and it didn't happen. >> nothing happened. reporter: what did happen? it was crazy. used to see the puddles but now i see the splash. >> reporter: as the band's music started appearing in commercia commercials, the black keys began to get noticed. last year on the back of their breakthrough albums "brothers" they won three grammies. >> it's so weird. it's always really weird being there on the red carpet. felt so out of place. >> i felt so dumb in a tux, so uncomfortable. >> i felt like i was wearing a hot dog casing. they put you on the red carpet. that's when you hit the reality of the grammies. >> i got pushed aside so kim car dashian. why is she even there? amuse i can awards show.

>> reporter: another honor meant much more to them. early on a sunday morning this past march in the midst of their tour, the black keys' bus pulled up in front of their al ma matter, akron's harvey firestone high. >> two guys mounted on the wall are paying for it. >> if you look closely there's a nail up there in the bricks. >> then you can handle the picture. >> reporter: carney passed the picture up to auerbach who stood on the trophy case in the front hall to hang it. then the boys who hadn't been back to school since graduation took a nostalgic tour. >> i always loved it here. reporter: checking out their yearbook pictures. >> this is dan's. reporter: this is before the beard. >> i wore a cow boy outfit. check out his picture. reporter: you did wear a cow boy outfit. >> well, i won something. reporter: he won most unique. did you campaign for it?

there are three most unique in the pictures. and they're less than stellar high school transcript. >> we got an a in ceramics. and i got a b in music appreciation. >> reporter: they may have made the alumni wall but fame hasn't gone to their heads. >> we haven't changed. we couldn't. our families wouldn't let us, first of all. our brothers would make fun of us relentlessly if we tried to even act like rock stars. my grandma would call me and ask me why i was being an idiot. you know? >> reporter: the band is still a family affair. carney's brother michael designs the group's art work and album covers. >> were you worried about him at all? >> yeah. the first tour? >> reporter: patrick's father jim carney is a reporter with the akron beacon journal. >> i was like freaking out

because i didn't know where they were. did they have enough money? >> reporter: now your son pulls up in his own bus. >> that's nuts. reporter: carney and auerbach, now in their early 30s, grew up just blocks apart in akron. literally you did live right around the corner from each other. >> yes. reporter: dan auerbach's parents chuck, an antique's dealer and mary a retired french teacher never doubted their son. >> when i wanted to go bus for a change, they would help me buy battery-powered guitar and amplifier, you know. >> reporter: you weren't concerned? >> no. reporter: you weren't? no. it was the thing. they said if i wanted to do it, i had to do it. >> reporter: i like the work ethic. >> that's it. he never let us down. i mean, he's still the hardest working guy i know. how can you not support hard work and passion? >> reporter: but the auerbachs are still amazed at what's happened. >> cover of rolling stone.

madison square garden. maybe yankee stadium. >> never good enough for you, dad. (laughing). >> i love it. reporter: chuck and mary walked their soften back to his tour bus on this snowy march day. >> baby, have a safe trip. reporter: the black keys were headed out on their first tour of major arenas in america. >> reporter: ultimately the two sold-out shows at new york's madison square garden. it sold out in 15 minutes. >> the first show sold out in 15 minutes. >> reporter: what did you think when you heard that? >> huge for us obviously.

not to think about it too much. >> reporter: for the two kids from akron it's all still sinking in. but the black keys aren't the underdogs anymore. >> if you die eating cheese burgers, what do you think happens to me. >> osgood: next, movies that are just the ticket. ♪

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>> osgood: tomorrow is a holiday. a good time to take in a good movie. david edelstein has a few suggestions. >> reporter: it's the last weekend of summer, not by the calendar but in our hearts. and choice of shirts. maybe you want to barbecue, get wet, go to a movie. good luck with that last one. not to be a debby downer, but it's dog days at the plex and most of these dogs won't hunt. >> loaded? you can only hope. reporter: i can't believe a muttate like the expendables 2 is number one at the box office. >> i'm back! reporter: yes. nice to see e-men get work but the movie is macho camp like a drag show on steroids literally. and don't bother with the arty

moon shine shoot 'em up lawless with tom hardy which is cruddy rot gut packaged like primeau burbon. >> here's my plan. dear sam. my answer is is yes. >> reporter: but you can still find floating around in theaters moon rise kingdom, west anderson's sweet-souled ode to puppy love with its lovely discome bob eulted frames. but the only movie rocking in super wide relief is premium rush, a deapped chase picture with a dash of farce. nothing on its mind but getting mike messenger hero joseph gordon levitt from points a to b without being flattened either by cars or michael shannon. >> i've gt to ask for it back. reporter: a bug-eyed riot as a cop with a lethal gambling debt. >> hey, give me the envelope. no. reporter: the wonderful film in limited release is the

futuristic buddy comedy robot and frank. frank, being a proud ex-jewel thief with early stage dementia, who is gifted by his kids with a robot caretaker. >> i brought you something. hi, frank. you have got to be kidding me. >> reporter: there's a nut ball caper plot, but the tone is melancholy. frank's memory is going. the robot's can be erased. will something between them endure? >> i would rather die eating cheese burgers than live off steamed cally flower. >> what about me, frank? do you mean what about you? >> if you die eating cheesebergers, what do you think happens to me? >> reporter: truly unforgettable is frank langella's frank. he never goes soft. he uses the cashinger's arrogance to generate an astounding amount of sympathy. >> what the hell did you just say to me.

>> reporter: if that movie is not close by many cable films will bring first-run indy films for a fee into your home. >> are you sure you're going to get in because i don't see any gentlemen here. >> reporter: that's how i caught bachelorette which is like a rawnchiest and nastiest brieds maid, the comedy rooted in female competition and self hatred. i liked it and loved lizy kaplan with her bat signal eyes. but you have to be up for pretty girls not just talking dirty but doing the dirt. >> i'm not going to watch becky archer walk down the aisle in my dream dress. i would rather lick this sidewalk. >> reporter: best of all is a ghost picture called... >> mommy, who is that behind you. >> reporter: ... which women keep disappearing from a house where the heroin's mother just died. the less you see, the scarier. nothing has been this scary in years. i jumped out of my chair when my

daughter walked in the room. director nicholas mccarthy has a terrific sense of visual menace. though it must be said there's no sight in the pact that's quite as creepy as sylvester stallone in the expendable's 2. fall can't come quickly enough.

former senator george mitchell has made a name for himself as the man in the middle, the peacemaker, an honest broker helping to bring an end to conflicts that seem all but impossible to resolve. our rit a braver has paid him a visit. >> this is the typical hiking trail in acadia national park. it's beautiful.

the majestic forest that you have to go through. a lot of rocks. you have to watch where you're going. you have to be careful. >> reporter: but then george mitchell has managed to navigate many rocky paths. ad modest man with a remarkable career. he servedded as senate majority leader, middle east negotiator, chairman of the board of the walt disney company. he runs a major law firm and letted the investigation into steroid use in major league baseball. but what may be his most significant achievement could be seen earlier this summer, an historic handshake between queen elizabeth and former i.r.a. chief martin macinnis, now a top official in northern ireland. it happened in large part because just 14 years ago george mitchell brokered a peace deal between catholics afternoon protestants in northern ireland.

after years of violence and strife. >> i realize how historical it was. >> reporter: you did? yes. i felt it. everyone was aware of the historical significance of what we were doing. >> reporter: growing up here in maine, mitchell never expected to become an actor on the world stage. >> this is so far beyond any dreams i might have had. i think about my parents, how it would have been completely beyond their scope of imagination. >> reporter: but his life is a testament to the american dream. his dad was an eye-american janitor, his mom a lebanese immigrant who couldn't read or write. >> she was a weaver in a textile mill. she worked the night shift. i still can't figure out how she did it. she had five children. including she and my father, there were seven people in our house. we had one tiny bathroom.

>> reporter: but mitchell didn't let any of it stop him. he worked his way through college and law school with a stint in the military in between. in 1962, he was unexpectedly offered a job with maine senator ed muskie. once you started working with senator muskie, did you start to think, hey, there's something about politics? >> as they say in a less elegant term, it gets in your blood. >> reporter: in 1980 mitchell became a united states senator himself, earning a reputation that follows him to this day as a skilled negotiator, tryingçó o understand the other side. >> why do they believe as they do? why do they act as they do? is there something to their position that i don't understand or that i've been wrong about? the most disturbing thing now is the rigidity of some.

we are right. we're 100% right. if you disagree with us, you're not just wrong. you're not an american. >> reporter: in fact, in 1989, when he was elected senate majority leader, democrat mitchell did something that is hard to imagine in this era of partisan animosity. on his first day, he made a pledge to republican leader bob dole. >> i'll never try to embarrass you. i will never attack you personally. it's almost unheard of these days, but in those days it was cord yalt. we had a relationship. he's my friend. he's a great legislator. >> reporter: mitchell was so well respected on both sides of the aisle that president bill clinton wanted to make him a supreme court justice. >> i've asked presidentñi clintn not to consider me for nomination to the vacancy on the

supreme court. >> reporter: were you disappointed? >> oh, god, yes. i thought he had a range of experience that would have been incredibly valuable on the court as well as years of negotiating experience which would have made him effective in trying to forge a majority. so i was disappointed he didn't do it. >> reporter: mitchell turned down the court because he felt a greater responsibility to get the clinton health care plan passed. it was an effort that ultimately failed. and mitchell's sacrifice was for not. have you ever looked back and thought, gee, that was a mistake? >> oh, sure, yes. after the bush versus gore decision by the supreme court, that's one thing i wished i had been there to argue against. >> reporter: in 1995, george mitchell decided it was time to leave the senate. but a week later, president clinton convinced him to take on

the tough task of bringing peace to northern ireland. soon mitchell found himself at a negotiating table filled with old and bitter grievances between catholics and protestants. how did you find the patience to deal with so many different parties and make all of that happen? >> i said to the delegates at the peace conference very early in the process, i said, look, i'm a product of the u.s. senate. i've listened to 16-hour speeches, to 12-hour speeches. i said there's nothing you guys can say that can faze me. >> he's brilliant at that. about just hammering through and working on their psychology and their needs and listening carefully to what they need. >> protestants and catholics reached what could be a historic peace agreement for northern ireland. >> reporter: finally after three years of intense negotiation, mitchell sealed a peace deal. earning him a nobel peace prize

nomination and a knighthood from queen elizabeth. through it all, he has always returned to his beloved maine where he's built a family retreat. >> this land was owned by david rockefeller. he decided to sell off basically this hill. >> reporter: still it doesn't take much to pull mitchell back into service. a life-long baseball fan he was tapped to run an investigation into steroid use by players. and his 2000 report is credited with helping to clean up the sport. >> i think many more copies of that were distributed than my reports on northern ireland or the middle east or any place else. >> reporter: it was in 2009 that president obama named him chief negotiator in the middle east. >> senator mitchell is going to be fully empowered by me and fully empowered by secretary clinton. so when he speaks, he will be

speeking for us. >> reporter: but the intractable middle east proved to be one place where even mitchell could not prevail. after two years, he stepped down to spend more time with wife heather and their two children. yet despite the obstacles in the middle east this american statesman is still full of hope. >> i believe that israelis and palestinians will come together to reach an agreement to end the conflict. >> reporter: in your lifetime? yes, in my lifetime. but that belief is based primarily on the reality that it is so much in their interest. both societies. to bring this conflict to an end. >> reporter: and as for george mitchell? at 79, he doesn't rule out taking on another big assignment. >> i can't imagine any american saying no to a president who asks you to do something that is

meaningful for the country and for our people. >> put your first, your middle and your last. >> osgood: next, they want to be in the movies. ♪ walk on by >> osgood: later, the man who wrote the words, hall david. ♪ rain drops keep falling on my head ♪

>> osgood: there are many people in the movies besides the leading and supporting actors. they are the passers-by, the folks sitting in restaurants or walking down the street. please don't call them extras. background artists, if you don't mind. they really do come from a place called central casting. our lee cowan went there. ♪ you ought to be in pictures ♪ >> go right in and have a seat. reporter: these are some of

the most familiar faces you'll probably never recognize hoping to be stereotyped... >> a mob guy. 60s or 70s. a lawyer. reporter: ... integrate. faces are photographed, body parts are measuredded. names don't matter here. it's all about size, shape and... >> your will smith of the world, your denzils, that's me. all day. >> reporter: leroy's is the classic hollywood dream. like everyone here he's hoping to become a hollywood extra. the extras are hollywood's house plants. cinematic wall flowers, the face in the crowd or perhaps just a crowd itself. they are the unknown souls drowning with leonardo decap pre-owe. >> never get behind people traveling with infants. >> reporter: they are those being chided by george choony.

they are the israelites faithfully following charlton heston through the parted waters of the red sea or they're baseball fans. so naturally cheering on robert redford. in some ways they're the unsung heroes of the movie world. >> but being unsung is kind of part of the job description, isn't it? >> reporter: film historian leonard multon said there isn't a lot said or written about extras precisely because they're not supposed to be interesting. >> you're not there to intro vice. you're not there to show off. you're there to be part of the background. be an authentic looking part of the background. >> reporter: where do directors shop for that background? in a place that sounds more like a punch line than a business. central casting. >> no one believes there really is a central casting. the first statement is always, there's really a central casting. >> reporter: jennifer bender is a veep of one of the biggest cliches in hollywood.

part temperature agency, part circus recruiter. >> we want three blondes, two brunettes, to african-americans and an asian between the ages of 20s and 30s. i mean that's by definition what we do. >> reporter: but it would make most human resources departments heads roll. >> exactly. reporter: it's been around a long time. >> central casting. reporter: since 1925. created as a better, more organized alternative to the perils of hollywood's testing couch. >> all right now. give me everything you've got, you people ready now? don't be extras. be a nation. >> reporter: legendary director cecil b. de nil was a frequent client, even appeared in a short film about central casting and talent in waiting. >> from the ends of the earth they come waiting for the magic call. >> you're five minutes late now. the magic call that may mean the lucky break. >> reporter: today central

casting's mission remains the same as it ever was. and 87 years later it remains a booming business. >> central casting. i want to see if you can work friday. >> reporter: it hires between 2,000-3,000 extras every single day. including casting oscar-nominated films like money ball. how many people are we talking about? >> that movie had thousands. i mean we had to fill up stadiums. >> reporter: chris was in charge of finding them all. at the request of producer and star brad pitt. fitting because after all central casting is where pitt got his start. you just had a sense that it was going to work out. >> hell, no. i had no idea what i was doing. but i got here, you know, i landed and had a meal at mcdonald's and got the paper. by the end of the week i i was an extra. >> reporter: so was john wayne. ronald reagan, even desperate housewife eva longerria started

as an extra. pretty humble beginnings that are enough to keep some 300 new applicants coming to central casting week. if you're looking for someone that has a lot of different, like,... like him. >> yeah. reporter: like that screen biker guy. >> exactly. reporter: summer wesson is is one of the casting directors who has at her finger tips an unlimited database. if her screen came alive, it might sound something like this. biker, down scale bar to tron. homeless. cop. doctor. lawyer. news baseball player. >> hair down, homeless. mental patient. lots of mental patient. hair back. nun. medical technician, nurse. >> reporter: there are people who have been an extra in so many different films there's almost like a star in and of themselves. >> absolutely. there are several of them. i think there are a few you would probably recognize.

>> reporter: one of them may be jesse himan dubbed the world's greatest extra in a you-tube clip that was made, believe it or not, by a fan. where are you in that one? >> oh, there you are. reporter: it's been viewed more than two million times, highlighting jesse's appearances in everything from glee to major motion pictures like the social network and spiderman. >> are you okay being the world's greatest extra? >> yes, of course. it's a title. i have a title. it's like him the madonna of the extra world. >> reporter: there are others you might have seen and not know you've seen. like john stall. ♪ welcome back >> reporter: he's been an extra since he was cast to sit behind john travolta in welcome back kotter. >> you're the lowest on the totem pole just an extra. >> reporter: to be successful at it, you have to embrace the obscurity of it all.

>> i always say you have to embrace the humility because it really is a humbling position unless you're able to just enjoy it for what it is. >> reporter: what it is, is hardly glamorous. >> a lot of people don't realize how much talent it takes to, you know, be dead. >> reporter: howard is auditioning to play the part of a body as in a lifeless body. on n.c.i.s. >> take a deep breath, howard and just let your jaw hang. >> reporter: dignified? maybe not. but difficult. you bet. his eyes can't flutter. he have has to be able to take shallow breaths. for n.c.i.s. executive producer mark horowitz the competition for that role is, well, stiff. >> dead. shooting. eyes will be open. no blinking. >> the camera is moving on them and off them all the time. they have to sort of stay in that character pose during the course of the show. it actually takes a bit of technique. >> reporter: by far the most

common technique for an extra is simply walking. in the business, it's called a cross, as in crossing behind the stars. sounds easy. but rookies get it wrong every time. >> hands at your side looking straight ahead walking like a robot. that would be the first mistake. they don't think twice about i. start over here on the right hand side. >> reporter: this woman is the second assistant director on n.c.i.s.-l.a., and most of her job is choreographing the extras. on this day more than two dozen of them like this woman. >> it makes me a little crazy when we do crosses behind mini-blinds where the camera is like this high off the ground and all they see is your waist and we do it like 500 times. >> reporter: but getting noticed is not part of the job description which is why this woman always makes sure she has something to do and something to say. the trick, she says, is to mouth words like peas and carrots over and again but do it silently.

now you're freaking me out. >> i'm freaking you out. reporter: the hours are long. the wages are minimal. there's no comfy trailers for the extras. all for those few moments of obscurity that just one day might pay off. >> do you think it's easy to just sit there or just walk through back and forth? try it. >> reporter: straight out of central casting, as they say, may be a cliche. but it's also the hollywood badge of honor. [ male announcer ] if you think all batteries are the same... consider this: when the unexpected happens, there's one brand of battery more emergency workers trust in their maglites: duracell. one reason: duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed.

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that must've been brutal. [ male announcer ] the volkswagen autobahn for all event. at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know how easy it was to get your new volkswagen. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ quha the world needs now is love, sweet love ♪ >> osgood: it happened this week. yesterday in los angeles, hall david, the lyracist who along with composer burt bacharach gave us dozens of songs for tv and movies, died from complications of a stroke. ♪ just like me, they long to be

close to you ♪ >> osgood: together david and burt bacharachñi wrote many hits including. ♪ rain drops keep falling on my head ♪ rain drops keep falling on my head. they regularly worked with dionne warwick. and their music was regarded by barbra streisand, frank sinatra, and many others. >> burt bacharach and hall david. ( applause ) >> osgood: in may the team received the gershwin prize for popular song. said president barack obama they captured the emotions of our daily lives ♪ i say a little prayer for you ♪ >> osgood: hall david was 91 years old. ♪ forever, forever, you'll stay in my heart-i will love you ♪ >> osgood: come on in. the water is perfect. next we pay a visit to guam.

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>> guam! madam secretary, we're so far west that in the far east. but we're... but where america's day begins >> it's sunday morning on cbs and here again is charles osgood >> osgood: that was the governor of guam hoping to put presidential candidate mitt romney over the top in his quest to be the republican party's nominee. most of us don't know much about guam besides the fact that it's a u.s. territory. barry pederson has sent us a postcard from guam. >> reporter: the dancing suggests a tropical island. the japannese tourist hint that it is somewhere in the pacific.

this is, in fact, guam. first where is it? start in california and head to hawaii and then go another 3800 miles west and there it is. 12 miles at its widest and 0 miles long, guam is where america's day begins because it is located on the other side of the international date line. but to most americans, unless you're one of the thousands of military servicemen stationed here, guam is a mystery. >> when you look at guam, it's on the edge, but oftentimes they say guam on the edge of asia, on the edge of america because it's the furthest piece of american out there >> reporter: this history professor is guam's native people >> the native people have been here for 4,000 years, long before the united states ever existed. july of 1944 the japannese decided to make an example >> reporter: he tells his students at the university of guam that guam's colonial past

defines its present >> colonizedded by the spanish, the americans, the japannese and now it's very americanized but it's still very different. so you can have somebody from the states come to guam and say, you know, this feels like just like i'm in indiana or anywhere in the united states. you have a person come from indiana and come to guam and say this feels like i'm a country because of so many people moving back and forth across the pacific have made their way to guam. has all these influences. it's hard for guam to figure out what it is. >> reporter: while it has the biggest k-mart in the world and guamians are u.s. citizens they cannot actually vote in federally lexes. that's because guam is one of 14 u.s. territories, like alaska and hawaii were before they became states. only guam never made it that far. >> guam you have to say i'm from guam usa to kind of assert. i'm part of the united states. >> reporter: the japannese

military invaded guam in world war ii, but now a new generation of japannese has returned. a million a year armed with cash and credit cards to shop, basque in the sunshine and play in guam's krystal clear waters. while tourist dollars support the island's economy, an unwelcome outsider is undermining its eco system. the poisonous brown tree snake. >> the chances of spotting a snake are almost 0. they blend in so well with the branches that unless they start to move during the day you still don't see them. this is a hit-or-miss proposition >> reporter: even hunting with the biologist of the u.s. geo logical survey, it took two hours to spot the nocturnal snake >> yeah, i've got him. reporter: on an island that has at least five times more snakes than people. this is an adult. >> it's an adult

reporter: with no natural predators they've hunted to extinction ten out of the 12 bird species native to guam. >> the amount of impact and damage that was caused on guam by the brown tree snake is really astounding. when people speak about invasive specie, many times they will refer to guam as an example of what one invase i have been species can do to an entire system >> reporter: this is not a bad life, jeff >> it's the greatest reporter: also on guam you also find another distinct tropical species, folks from the mainland u.s. just looking to get away from it all. how many gorgeous days do you have a year? >> 345 reporter: you lose somewhere in there >> we lose 20 reporter: a little bit of rain. jeff pleadwell runs a restaurant called pirate's cove. he says the gospel of relaxation begins with the island greeting. >> it's more like "half a day."

half a day late, half an hour late. it doesn't real matter. it's like laid back in that respect. >> reporter: for all of us in the cell phone, texting, email, i.m. traffic-jammed stressed-out world of our daily lives, take a moment for guam's best moment. with no added sugar. just one glass equals two servings of fruit. very "fruit-ritious." or try ocean spray light 50, with just 50 calories, a full serving of fruit, and no added sugar. with tasty flavors like cranberry pomegranate and cranberry concord grape, it's like a fruit stand in every bottle. [ splashing ] just, you know, demonstrating how we blend the fruits. ahem. try all our tasty ocean spray 100% and light 50 juices.

they claim to be complete. only centrum goes beyond. providing more than just the essential nutrients, so i'm at my best. centrum. always your most complete.

>> osgood: it's back to work and school and such. we don't mind that very much. most of us seem to feel that way. at least when asked that's what they say. as we know from years past the summer does go by too fast. it never does last long enough. that's all just take tomorrow off. now nothing could be finer than to go to bob scheiffer in north carolina this morning getting ready for this week's democratic convention in charlotte. good morning, bob. what's ahead on face the nation >> schieffer: good morning, charles. we're all about the democrats today. we'll preview the convention that starts here on tuesday. >> osgood: thank you, bob scheiffer. we will be watching. next week here on sunday morning... >> everybody in the world has been here. now you. >> osgood: mo catches up with ellen. mo rocca and ellen degeneres. i'm doing my own sleep study.

advil pm® or tylenol pm. the advil pm® guy is spending less time lying awake with annoying aches and pains and more time asleep. advil pm®. the difference is a better night's sleep. >> this sunday morning moment of nature is sponsored by... >> osgood: we leave you on this sunday before a convention of democrats at a gathering of burrows near the colorado river not far from yuma, arizona.

>> osgood: i'm charles osgood. please join us here again next

sunday morning. until then, i'll see you on the radio. risk of a stroke, my first thoughts were about my wife, and my family. i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval,

as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa. captioning made possible by johnson & johnson, where quality products for the american family have been a tradition for generations captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org